Disclaimer

Don't miss reading our older articles by scolling all the way down and clicking on "Older Posts".Site last updated: 1 April 2018. Periodic updates are made - This site is for historical purposes only and I have no political agenda or views. This blog is a personal hobby and while I endeavour to provide information as accurately as possible, it may be difficult due to the sometimes controversial nature of the artefact, or that little documented history is known. Like most collectibles, the decision about a piece still ultimately rests with you. All photos unless stated belong to the owner and permission must be sought in writing before use. Email us at: thirdreicheagles@gmail.com

Sunday, 1 April 2018

Here's posting a group shot of some early eagles. The 1927 Nuremberg eagle pin with the purple rosette is hard to find, as well as the rest. Thanks for following this blog. It's been a while since we had an update.

Thursday, 25 December 2014

Little is known about this Anniversary of Coburg commemorative plate which says "Gautreffen der Alten Garde der Bayerischen Ostmark in Coburg 1937" that literally translates as "District meeting for the Old Guards in Gau Bayerische Ostmark in 1937", with text depicting the "City of Coburg" in the lower centre and the arms showing an inverted sword and a crest. The city arms were used for Coburg within the state of Bayern from 1934 to 1945, represented with gold and black over the sword, with a swastika in the pommel. The porcelain plate has beautiful inverse details of the text and the Coburg Badge in the centre, with a stunning tea-brown glaze. On the reverse shows the Roseler maker mark stamps with two small holes at the back, presumably for mounting onto the wall. On the back also shows the porcelain code number 8772 which is identical to other known examples. This particular Roesler stamp was used around 1937 that shows an RMR mark encircled by Roesler Feinsteingut Rodach. The symbol of a hedge rose, part of the family crest derived from
the name Roesler was chosen as the company mark. The company was official registered on the 24th of July 1894 in the
town of Rodach, located between the Bavarian town of Coburg and the
Thuringian town of Suhl. The company was originally set up for making and decorating porcelain, stoneware and other fine earthenware. Only two known examples of this plate have been documented, making this third piece an extremely rare and treasured find. From author's collection.

Friday, 8 August 2014

Another photographic rendition of the Coburg Badge (Coburger Abzeichen). It was the highest party award since its inception in 1932 and held in greater esteem than the Blood Order itself. This is a rare award as only 436 names were entered on the official party roll of recipients who were entitled to the badge.

Hitler was invited with his party to the city of Coburg to hold a 'German Day' on 10 October 1922. This was a folk festival to encourage German rural life. Although the city was Marxist controlled, the event would provide a political platform to publicise the party with media attention. When they arrived, the Marxist citizens began to become rowdy and it led to a fight. In a turn of events, some of the crowd began to join Hitler's party and soon they won over the townsfolk. That evening Hitler addressed a meeting in the town hall attended by the Duke and Duchess of Coburg who later become active Nazis.

By now, Hitler's first decisive victory had become a Nazi folklore. Only the ardent and most staunch followers would have the answer if asked 'But were you at Coburg?' From author's collection.

These awards were given official recognition as a decoration of the
party in a decree made by Hitler on 1935. These are followed by a second
list of civil permitted badges of the party and its associates,
reinforcing that of the earlier decree 1934. The Three of a Kind amongst some of the awards - The NSDAP Reichparteitag at Nurnberg in 1933; the Parteitag at Nurnberg in 1929; and the SA Treffen at Braunschweig in 1931. From author's collection.

The 4th Party Congress, known as the "Day of Composure", was held on August 2, 1929. The propaganda film Der Nürnberger Parteitag der NSDAP was made at this rally.

The 1931 SA Braunschweig Treffen badge was originally designed as a day
badge sold at the actual event. Hitler audaciously brought a larger
contingent of SA to the event than was anticipated and dominated the
event. As a commemoration, the badge was elevated to a 'traditions'
award after 1933

The 5th Party Congress was held in Nuremberg, August 30 – September 3, 1933. It was called the "Rally of Victory" (Reichsparteitag des Sieges). The term "victory" relates to the Nazi seizure of power and the victory over the Weimar Republic. Hitler announced that from now on all Rallies would take place in Nuremberg.

Credits: C. Alisby / C. Gottlieb

Saturday, 14 December 2013

A beautifully well-sculpted silver-plated Luftwaffe desk eagle, mounted onto a granite base, showing the inscription of "Führer befiehl -
wir folgen"; literally translated as "The Führer commands - We follow". The top surface shows the dedication to "Our outgoing Sergeant in the grateful remembrance of the 14th Panzer Division Company IR
326". This large, heavy desk piece measuring a width of 43cm and a height of 27cm would most likely be given as a token of appreciation. From author’s collection.

Sunday, 24 November 2013

The Coburg Badge (Coburger Abzeichen) was recognised as
the first national award of the NSDAP, and later as the top NSDAP award in the
party. Hitler ordered the Coburg Badge to be struck on October 14, 1932 to
commemorate the event that took place ten years earlier. It was to honour the
800-strong army of SA stormtroopers and a band who had travelled with Hitler by
train to Coburg for a rally. Over there, they pitched street battles with the
police and the communists but eventually gained an upper hand and they
celebrated with a victory. This day was known as the Deutscher Tag in Coburg
(German Day in Coburg).

The badge was designed by Hitler himself based on a
sketch. It measured 40mm wide and 54mm high, cast out of bronze and hand
finished. The design features sword facing downwards across the face of a
swastika and surrounded by an oval wreath MIT HITLER IN COBURG 1922-1932 (With
Hitler in Coburg 1922-1932). On the top of the badge shows the Coburg Castle
and its surrounding landscape. Next to the badge is a commemorative plaque for
a winner during an event held between 17-19 October 1941 at Coburg. The plaque
is extremely well made with a highly detailed brass engraving of the Coburg
badge, under the watchful eye of a German eagle, standing in front of an Iron
Cross. The wood plate measures 17.5cm x 11.8cm and with the manufacturer’s
name, Lauer Nürnberg stamped on the bottom. From author’s collection.

The Feldherrnhalle Martyrs' Souvenir Plaque would have
probably been sold during one of the Anniversaries of 9 November 1923. The
plaque, modelled after the Mahnmal in der Feldherrnhalle in Munich. So what
happened on that day? On the morning of 9 November 1923, Adolf Hitler and his followers marched to the
Feldherrenhalle where a confrontation soon arose with the Bavarian State Police which then
became bloody with 16 of Hitler’s men and four policemen killed. After
the seizure of power by Hitler in 1933, the
Feldherrenhalle became a special place of Nazi propaganda and on the Eastern side, a
plaque with the names of the 16 martyrs were honored. The plaque was removed after
the war in 1945. This plaque came with
several other postcards from the era. The plaque was cast in an aluminum alloy
and affixed using 3 nails onto a black-stained wooden base. From author’s
collection.

The Generalluftzeugmeister
(or GL for short) was the civilian Supply and Procurement Service that handled
many of the Luftwaffe's technical duties such
as testing and requisitioning supplies. The organisation employed a large
number of civilians and they were given a distinct cap badge to wear in order
to distinguish it from regular units of the Luftwaffe. It was said that before
the war, members wore avisor hat with
the standard Luftwaffe eagle national emblem,
but later the insignia was redesigned specifically for the Generalluftzeugmeister to include a
cog wheel encircling the eagle. However, most period photos show that this was
also worn as a breast badge where most men would wear the fliegerbluse with red
piping. The badge has been found marked and unmarked where the above shows one
in aluminium and a later war variant in heavy tombak and with longer prongs.
From author’s collection.

The National
Socialist Motor Corps (or
Nationalsozialistisches Kraftfahrkorps, NSKK for short) was a
paramilitary
organization that existed from 1931 to 1945. The organisation was headed
by
Adolf Hühnlein from 1934 and after Hühnlein's death in 1942, Erwin
Krauss took
over as Korpsführer (Corps Leader). It was initially formed as a
motorized
corps of the Sturmabteilung (SA) and when its membership grew, it became
an
independent organization with an aim to educate members in motoring
skills such
as the operation and maintenance of high performance motorcycles and
automobiles. From 1935 onward, the NSKK also provided training for
Panzer crews
of the German Army. The NSKK eagle insignias pictured above were used on
the
first pattern motorcyclists' crash helmets, or on automobile radiator
grilles.
These were very well made, showing excellent details to the feathers and
details. In particular, those eagles mounted onto automobiles tend to be
made
in cast aluminium or an alloy, whereas those for helmets tend to be
struck hollow in aluminum. A second pattern styled insignia for crash
helmets, and a smaller insignia for visor caps exist. From author's own
collection.

The Reichsministerium für die besetzeten Ostgebiete, or RMBO for short, was the Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories created by Adolf Hitler on July 1941. The organisation was headed by Alfred Rosenberg to control the vast areas captured by the Germans in Eastern Europe and Russia. Rosenberg had presented Hitler with his plan for the organization of the conquered Eastern territories, suggesting the establishment of new administrative districts, to replace the previously Soviet-controlled territories with new Reichskommissariats to include Ostland (Baltic countries and Belarus), Ukraine (Ukraine and nearby territories), Kaukasus (Caucasus area), Moskau (Moscow metropolitan area and the rest of near Russia areas).

The RMBO was a civil ministry-styled government and was not part of the NSDAP Party branch. It was created by the German civil authorities as an administrative unit of the Grossdeutsches Reich. The governing people were largely party functionaries and senior SS, but it was also staffed by foreign office people because of its ambiguous status of being a German "colony" or administrative district without being part of Germany proper. It was planned to become part of Germany itself following the war and "Germanization" of the population. This also meant that these territories were not under the purvey of the Reichszeugmeisterei (RZM) being the national material control office of Third Reich Germany. There has been numerous discussions about such artefacts from Eastern territories where it should never have come under the RZM and thus objects marked as such have not been recognised by collectors to be original. It was also known that an American company, WW2 Products Ltd., based in St. Louis, manufactured reproductions of these metal RMBO eagles that have a RZM marking on the reverse. The RMBO eagle below has been identified as a late-war visor cap insignia that does not have RZM markings on the reverse. An identical RMBO eagle can also be found today at the Army Museum in Paris (musee de l'armee), at the Contemporary department, the Two World Wars 1871-1945 section (Les deux guerres mondiales 1871 - 1945). From author's own collection. source: Wikipedia / WAF

Saturday, 16 February 2013

November 9, 1923 marks the date of Hitler's attempted Bierkellerputsch
(beer hall putsch) in Munich, his failed attempt to overthrow the
Weimar Republic (in which four Bavarian policemen and a bystander were
killed, in addition to 16 "Putschisten"). The 16 fallen were regarded as the first "blood martyrs" of the NSDAP and were remembered by Hitler in the foreword of Mein Kampf. The Nazi flag they carried, which in the course of events had been stained with blood, came to be known as the Blutfahne (blood flag) and was brought out for the swearing-in of new recruits in front of the Feldherrnhalle when Hitler was in power.

This photograph shows a group of mementos that was offered during the Anniversary - A glass cup given as a
special gift to VIPs and Gauleiters on the 10th anniversary of 9 November
1923. The glass is a solid, heavy glass cup cut with national eagle emblem (in the form of the eagle
on the 9 November Memorial). Also included is a brochure of the 10th anniversary event of the "March to the
Feldherrnhalle".The foreground shows a rare desk piece of the Feldherrnhalle, as a scaled
presentation of the the original Mahnmal in Munich, Germany. From author's own collection.

Sunday, 3 February 2013

This is a great looking, well-sculpted early NSDAP Wall
or Building Eagle being made of iron (magnetic) and having a hanging device on
the reverse and marked to the foundry measuring 14 inches by 9 1/2 inches. This is a seldom encountered piece and is dated to around 1930 where the design of these eagles were still in its infancy. Maker marked J. Kaiser and Co., Uckermunde. The other side of the wing is stamped with the letters "Alleinhersteller", meaning sole manufacturer. From author's own collection.

One of the most magnificent pieces from this collection, this gold-gilt Nürnberg desk eagle was probably a more expensive variant made available for high-level political leaders and VIPs. The details are outstanding and the gold finish is intact even after nearly 70 years. The eagle is mounted on a low-base made of cream coloured marble and with a felt backing on the underside. The reverse shows the RZM marking of M3/100, being identical to the trophy eagle described in one of the earlier posts. This variant in gold-gilt with a crisp maker stamp and in a good condition is extremely hard to find. From author's own collection.

This beautiful desk eagle shows a spread-out / swept wing style that was described in an early post. It is beautifully crafted and weighs very heavy. The key difference to the previous one is that this desk piece has its eagle soldered on a metal base and with a matt-black semi-lustre finish. Exceptionally craftsmanship. The base shows an engraved dedication made in 1938. There are no maker marks on this piece, although some examples of this particular variant came from the HB foundry. From author's own collection.